Pego, 48, was convicted by a federal grand jury in U.S. District Court in Bay City in February 2013 and was sentenced by Judge Thomas L. Ludington last June to 780 months in prison.

He is currently service a three-to-five year sentence at the Oak Correctional Facility in Manistee for a larceny by conversion conviction in Isabella County and has not yet begun serving the federal sentence.

Advertisement

In the12-page opinion, the judges said Pego did not establish any legal error underlying his conviction or sentence.

Pego accused his two-year girlfriend of being a confidential informant in July 2012 on the Isabella Reservation, and she testified at his trial that he beat her during a three-day period, hitting her in the face with a metal fireplace poker, as well as kicking, punching, beating her with a belt buckle and holding her hostage in a spare bedroom while standing in the doorway with a knife.

Pego, who was convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to commit bodily harm, assault resulting in serious bodily injury, two counts of witness tampering and domestic assault by a habitual offender, did not raise any objections to presentence report scoring, which Ludington said had one of the highest criminal history numbers he had seen.

That calculation did not include several convictions in Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Court.

At sentencing, Ludington noted that Pego continued to deny he had assaulted the victim and that Pego “simply cannot psychologically bring himself to the point of accepting responsibility for his own behavior,” according to the opinion.

Pego, who has 20 prior misdemeanor convictions, seven felony convictions and six Tribal Court convictions, blamed his legal troubles on alcoholism and drug abuse at his sentencing.

In his appeal, Pego argued that Ludington erred in denying his motion for a new attorney.

Appeals judges said the denial was not an abuse of discretion.

“Pego did not make his motion until the midst of jury selection, at which point he accused his trial counsel of having insufficiently prepared for trial,” according to the opinion. “The district court inquired into Pego’s assertions and then asked for a response from Pego’s counsel.”

Pego’s attorney told the judge that he followed most of the leads Pego provided and that “much of the resulting material was irrelevant or inadmissible.”

Pego’s attorney also said he tried to contact witnesses that Pego named but had determined their testimony “would not be favorable to Pego,” according to the opinion.

In the appeal, Pego said Ludington “trivialized the extent of the rift between him and his counsel, which Pego claims exhibited itself in total lack of contact during the two weeks immediately before his trial.”

“But this fortnight of silence does not on its own demonstrate irretrievable breakdown of communication,” the judges said. “Trial counsel represented Pego at his arraignment and plea hearing only two weeks before his trial began.”

Appeals judges noted again that Pego did not seek a new attorney until jury selection was underway.

Pego also cited ineffective assistance of counsel, saying his attorney should have challenged police searching his home without a warrant, but appeals judges said his victim voluntarily let police inside, and “there is also some suggestion in the record that a search warrant was in any event procured by the investigating officers,” according to the opinion.

Pego also contended in the appeal that his right to due process was violated at trial, but appeals judges said that argument was without merit.

Pego’s assertion that he was essentially sentenced twice for the same crime - assault resulting in serious bodily injury and domestic assault by a habitual offender - is incorrect, appeals judges ruled.